Оливер Эймс: Бизнесмен, политик и защитник чести отца.

19th century American businessman, financier, and politician

Oliver Ames (February 4, 1831 – October 22, 1895) was an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and Republican politician who served as the 35th governor of Massachusetts from 1887 to 1890. Ames's public life was primarily devoted to the vindication of his late father Oakes Ames, a businessman and U. S. Representative who was censured for his role the 1873 Credit Mobilier scandal and died shortly thereafter. His tenure in office was also marked by a divide within the state over the growing temperance movement. Ames was executor of his father's estate, and took over many of his business interests. He was a major philanthropist, especially in his hometown of Easton, where he secured construction of a number of architecturally significant works by the architect H. H. Richardson and a number of properties by landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted.

Oliver Ames was born in Easton, Massachusetts on February 4, 1831 to Eveline Orville (née Gilmore) and Oakes Ames. His father was the owner (with his father and brother, each also named Oliver) of Ames Shovel Shop, the largest manufacturer of shovels in the United States. Ames was educated in the local schools, and then attended private academies in North Attleborough and Leicester.

After leaving Brown, Ames entered the family business, learning all aspects of its manufacturing processes and worked as a traveling salesman. Ames served in the Massachusetts militia under the 4th Massachusetts Regiment, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1857, but resigned before the American Civil War began. Oliver became a partner in the company when his grandfather Oliver Ames Sr. died in 1863. While a member of Congress, Oakes Ames sold shares of Crédit Mobiler to other Congressmen well below their estimated market value. When this was exposed in 1872, a congressional committee determined it a bribe for the purpose of influencing railroad legislation. The scandal resulted in Oakes Ames's censure and he died not long afterward. Ames inherited his father's fortune, nationwide network of business interests, and $6–8 million in debt related to the scandal. He was also co executor to his father's estate. Over a period of years, Ames was able to pay off the debts, provide more than $1 million in bequests, and divide the estate amongst the heirs.

In 1875, financier Jay Gould gained control of the Union Pacific, while a group of Ames dominated Boston investors retained control of Crédit Mobilier. Crédit Mobilier remained mired in legal action related to the scandal, and its shares were a major component of Oakes Ames's estate. The company's only major asset was a $2 million note against UP, and Ames instigated legal action to recover its value. Gould and Union Pacific countersued and conducted a hostile takeover of Crédit Mobilier, ousting Ames from the company's board and discontinuing its lawsuit. Ames launched legal action as a shareholder, and succeeded in forcing CM into receivership in 1879 with himself as the receiver. Their legal wrangling largely subsided in 1880, when most of the holdout shareholders were bought out by Gould. During their fight, Ames sold Gould his controlling interest in the Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad, a separate paper railroad chartered to provide service in Kansas, at $250 per share. Ames made a large profit on the sale, which Gould purchased in order to assemble the pieces of a full transcontinental rail network under the Union Pacific umbrella.

Ames entered public life intent on vindicating his late father's memory. His early political activities included sitting on Easton's School Committee and chairing the local Republican Party committee. He also sat on the committees overseeing railroads and schools. Ames served from 1883 to 1886 under Butler (1883) and Republican George D. Robinson (1884–86). While in office, he also state's divestment from the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and the Hoosac Tunnel at 1/3 of par value. As governor, Ames was a competent administrator, hiring and promoting more on the basis of merit than politics. In 1887 he signed a bill exempting military veterans from recently enacted civil service regulations, earning him the ire of the state's progressives. A project to expand the Massachusetts State House was approved during his tenure, and he in 1889 helped lay the cornerstone for its new elements. He became unpopular with advocates of temperance. In 1889, the legislature passed a state constitutional amendment enacting prohibition, but it was voted down in the required popular referendum that followed.

In 1888, his health began to fail, probably due to the strain of office and his business interests. He died at his North Easton home in 1895.

Ames married Anna Coffin Ray of Nantucket in 1860. The couple had six children.

Ames was a major financier of Easton's public high school, and it is named Oliver Ames High School in his honor. He is also the namesake of the small community of Oliver, Nebraska and of the schooner Governor Ames, in which he was invested. With his cousin Frederick Lothrop Ames, Ames financed the construction of many projects designed by architect H. H. Richardson and landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted in North Easton, including Oakes Ames Memorial Hall and the Ames Free Library. The site of these properties is now the H. H. Richardson Historic District of North Easton, a National Historic Landmark District. Ames was a patron of sports and the arts. He owned Booth's Theatre in New York City and raised funds to send members of the Boston Athletic Association to the 1896 Summer Olympics. He was at one time the president of the Merchants' Club of Boston, and he was also president of the Boston Art Club.